scholarly journals Chinese Shuyuan: A Legacy in Chinese Education History, or a Solution for Modern Undergraduates in China?

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 173
Author(s):  
Zhen Zeng

The paper looked into concepts claimed to be essence of Chinese residential college, an on-going institution presumed to be a solution towards undergraduates’ issues in some pioneer universities in China. It’s analyzed that Chinese residential college today in China is not a Shuyuan that was ever striving as a unique education mode in ancient China, even if it’s named after Shuyuan in Chinese, concerning on its nature, function and goal, while it’s not a conventional residential college in English speaking countries neither. By investigation and comparison of its origin, function and features among Shuyuan and Chinese residential college, the spirit of development of a human with goodness and well-being through pursuit of knowledge and culture inherited and transmitted in Shuyuan is unearthed, which is supposed to be the resource of inspiration when the pioneer universities and educators designed and operate residential college on Chinese campus, though the effects couldn’t be accounted as appealing as what Shuyuan produced in ancient China. The research aims to depict a real Shuyuan, an education legacy every being alive in Chinese history, which were featured with paramount concepts and values that should be correctly recognized and implemented when there is great concern around undergraduates.

Author(s):  
Yuping Wang

The study and teaching of American literature and American realism in China mirrored the social development and cultural transformation in China and was often fueled by political incentives. This chapter examines the cultural and political forces affecting the reception of American literature in different stages of Chinese history and investigates the teaching of American literature and of American realism in Chinese university classrooms. Different from the teaching of American literature in English-speaking countries, the American literature course in China serves a twofold purpose: to provide cultural nutrient for the cultivation of a broader mind by highlighting the cultural norms and rubrics in literature and to promote students’ language proficiency by a careful study of the text and formal elements of literary works. The history of the Chinese reception of American literature thus reflects the resilience and openness of Chinese culture in its negotiation with foreign cultures.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-101
Author(s):  
William Jankowiak

If the freedom to choose is important for personal well-being, what happens when there are drastic restrictions on personal choice? China represents an opportune case to explore this question. Its fifty-plus years of experimenting with a redistributive command economy, combined with periodic bursts of political fever, made extreme egalitarianism more important than other Chinese values recognising individual merit, vision, and achievement. Throughout much of Chinese history, these values were widely shared; but in the current era, an alternative cultural model was stressed: social responsibility for the community and nation. Individuals were ideally expected to de-emphasise their individuality in favour of "the common good". In China, the juxtaposition of the two competing value systems—extreme egalitarianism versus individual choice, responsibility, and personal achievement—engendered confusion, anger, angst, and unhappiness. In China, from 1949 to 1976, this accounts, in part, for much of the suffering people experienced in living their lives. In this article I examine the Chinese cultural model for life satisfaction or wellbeing in two different eras: work unit (danwei), socialism (1981–1983), and market reform (1987–2000). My sample was found in Hohhot, the provincial capital of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in northern China, where I lived from 1981 to 1983; six months in 1987; five months in 2000 (a total of 35 months). I will also examine the ways Chinese sought well-being in four different domains: friendship, family, occupation, and fun activities. By analysing how Chinese conceptualised their lives over time, I will identify the conceptual frameworks individuals used to assess their relative well-being.


Author(s):  
Jane Edwards

Playing live music with people who are ill to promote optimal states of health and well being is a contemporary practice which has origins as far back as the written historical record. This paper examines a select range of literature from the academic spheres of medicine, music and music education published in the late 19th century through to the mid 20th century in order to interrogate and explore aspects of the history of music therapy and its development in the English speaking world.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Shengyu Wang

This article explores the use of gold in the elite tombs of Han dynasty China, the popular use of which originated outside the Chinese cultural milieu, and its integration into the Han portfolio of materials representing people's expectations for the afterlife, such as immortality and well-being. In contrast to jade, which had a long history of use in China, gold was in itself a ‘new’ element of Chinese culture. This article outlines the introduction of gold objects from Europe and Central Asia via the Eurasian Steppe and borderland of China from around the eighth century bce. The unprecedented use of gold in the Han-specific jade suits, and the process by which foreign types of zoomorphic motifs were adopted and connected with local motifs, are explored. In light of the political change from multiple competing states before the first unification in Chinese history in the third century bce, and the development in ideology and concept of an ideal and eternal afterlife, this article explains the reasons and meanings of the new use of gold in Han dynasty China and the composite system of motifs, materials and objects.


Author(s):  
Sonja Heintz ◽  
Willibald Ruch ◽  
Chloe Lau ◽  
Donald H. Saklofske ◽  
Paul McGhee

Abstract. Humor training has become increasingly popular to enhance the “sense of humor” and well-being and to decrease depressive symptoms. Despite the wide applications of these training programs, the assessment of training efficacy has attracted less attention. The Sense of Humor Scale (SHS; McGhee, 1996 , 1999 ) recently was expanded to a long version (SHS-L) to enhance its internal consistency ( Ruch & Heintz, 2018 ). At the same time, there is also the need for a brief version of this scale. The purpose of the present study is to develop a short version (SHS-S) in both German- and English-speaking countries, test its psychometric properties (internal consistency, factorial, construct, and criterion validity), and assess measurement invariance across gender and the two languages. Using three samples (Sample 1: 570 English-speakers, Sample 2: 353 German-speakers, Sample 3: 94 other-reports), the 29-item SHS-S was developed and yielded promising internal consistency and validity scores for the six humor skill factors of enjoyment of humor, laughter, verbal humor, finding humor in everyday life, laughing at yourself, and humor under stress. Overall, the SHS-S is an internally consistent, valid, and economic tool for future research and group-based applications, while the SHS-L seems especially useful in individual applications.


Author(s):  
Ying-shih Yü

The recipient of the Kluge Prize for lifetime achievement in the humanities, Ying-shih Yü is a premier scholar of Chinese studies. Chinese History and Culture volumes 1 and 2 bring his extraordinary oeuvre to English-speaking readers. Spanning two thousand years of social, intellectual, and political change, the essays in these volumes investigate two central questions through all aspects of Chinese life: what core values sustained this ancient civilization through centuries of upheaval, and in what ways did these values survive in modern times?


2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (31_suppl) ◽  
pp. 134-134
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Trice Loggers ◽  
Stephen Duane Watkins King ◽  
Jesse R Fann ◽  
Kerry K McMillin ◽  
Jodie HN David ◽  
...  

134 Background: Addressing distress in cancer patients is now broadly recognized as critical to well-being and associated with increased survival. Cancer centers are developing innovative distress screening methods; we describe our novel process and results. Methods: New patients from 9/2015 to 3/2017 received an email requesting completion of a 44-item web-based survey assessing depression (2-item Patient Health Questionnaire), anxiety (2-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder), quality of life (QOL, 28-item Functional Assessment of Cancer Treatment-General), malnutrition (3-item Malnutrition Screening Tool), and 9 items addressing existential crisis, physical function, symptoms, tangible needs and concerns for dependent children. Results were computer scored, with positive screens resulting in direct, automated referrals to supportive care services (SCR). Analysis includes descriptive statistics and logistic regression using SAS 9.4. Results: 71% (n = 2629 of 3724) of those approached provided an email and completed the survey; 73% reporting no survey burden. Non-responders were more likely to be minority, non-English speaking, with non-commercial insurance (all p < 0.001). 59% (n = 1543) of responders screened positive for one or more SCR, including 6% to palliative care for poor QOL or symptoms. Receipt of SCR was more likely with Medicaid insurance (1.36 odds ratio [OR], 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.06-1.76, p = .0061); plan to receive care (1.27 OR, CI 1.07-1.50, p = .0061); and any report of survey burden (2.26 OR, CI 1.83-2.80, p < .0001). Conclusions: Web-based distress screening is feasible, efficient and not burdensome for the majority of cancer patients. Those who find this screening burdensome are two-fold more likely to have distress. Future efforts should address screening of vulnerable populations.


2011 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert H. Gassmann

AbstractThinkers in the Zhànguó period of Chinese history debated intensely whether men were by nature “good” or “bad”. This debate has for many years been an important focus of sinological interest, but usually these properties were not attributed to men, but rather to so-called “human nature” (xìng 性) – thus, in effect, mirroring well-known (and problematic) “European” positions and discussions. The aim of this paper is, on the one hand, to redirect attention to the original Zhànguó positions and to explore the reasons for their variance by offering novel and close historical readings of relevant passages, and on the other, to propose a viable historical reconstruction of the common anthropological assumptions underlying these positions by blending it with the traces of a dominant cognitive image present in the texts. This calls for a systematic rethinking of the role of hearts (in the plural), desires, and behavioural patterns in their interplay and as elements of a concept of the psychological build of human beings current in early China.


Author(s):  
Anna Konstantinovna Korobitsyna

This article provides an overview of the major works of the Soviet researchers of prewar period, who covered the emergence of the Eastern Han Empire (25 &ndash; 220). The period of its existence that falls on the I &ndash; II centuries AD is one of the poorly studied periods of the Ancient Chinese history. The representations on the establishment of this empire within Soviet historiography developed in the prewar period are important for further study of this state, since they have not undergone significant changes. The article employs the chronological principle with determination of the key peculiarities of historiography of 1920s &ndash; 1930s, as well as comparative-historical and typological methods. Soviet researchers of the prewar period who dealt with this topic relied on the concept of the existence of feudalism in Ancient China, and thus, the struggle between the class of feudal lords and serf peasants. The Red Eyebrows rebellion movement drew heightened attention of the scholars. The Russian researchers of prewar period, other than K. A. Harnsky (1884 &ndash; 1938), views the Red Eyebrows movement as a peasant rebellion relying on rather ideological reasons than the analysis of historical sources. The author of this article believes that the example of this rebellion movement could tell about the class struggle in Ancient China, which explains the interest of the researchers. However, the focus of researchers on the Red Eyebrows movement, which covers just the first years of the existence of Eastern Han Empire, is also the reason why the establishment of the empire is poorly studied. They also interpreted the topic from ideological perspective, omitting the inconvenient facts.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongguang Zou ◽  
Rob I. Mawby

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to address four questions: Firstly, how do tourists perceive safety from crime, specifically from robbery or violence, alongside other safety concerns? Secondly, are those who are concerned about crime also concerned about other threats to their well-being? Thirdly, how are their perceptions of safety affected by their perceptions of the local community? Finally, how are their perceptions affected by their personal and touristic characteristics? Design/methodology/approach Findings Firstly, tourists did not generally see crime, specifically robbery or violence, as a problem; secondly, there was only a weak relationship between concern about crime and concern about other threats to their well-being; thirdly, in contrast, their perceptions of safety were strongly affected by their perceptions of the local community; and finally, their perceptions were affected by their personal and touristic characteristics, but not necessarily in the ways suggested by earlier research. Research limitations/implications The research sample was small and the questionnaire short. Only English-speaking visitors were included. Practical implications The tourism sector needs to appreciate role of local people in engendering feelings of safety. Social implications The attitude of the local community and their relationship with tourists is fundamental to helping visitors feel safe. Originality/value This is the first criminological paper to compare fear of crime with the other safety issues confronting tourists and to relate these concerns to relationships with host community.


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